A friend posted this to his instagram feed- it’s a picture of the super bloom in California:
If it wouldn’t hurt the wildlife and park rangers, I’d suggest putting in a minefield before next year’s bloom.
Also, is it just me or does this look like something from the Far Side?
jl
The Far Side always looked like real life to me, but maybe that is just me.
Hungry Joe
On a day tour in Iceland a couple of years ago we stopped at a site on which 500-year-old moss was growing. A narrow, roped-off, quarter-mile path wound through it. The guide instructed everyone — there were about ten of us — to stay on the path, because it takes many decades for damaged moss to repair itself. Within a minute three people had stepped over the ropes and were wandering over the little hillocks of moss and taking pictures of each other LYING ON THE MOSS. Americans, all three. The guide yelled at them, but they ignored him until they had the shots they wanted. Had I been armed …
zhena gogolia
@Hungry Joe:
This kind of thing makes me physically ill.
VeniceRiley
@Hungry Joe: WE ARE A TRASH PEOPLE.
Baud
@Hungry Joe: Ugh.
lamh36
Evening John…how is your dad feeling?
ruemara
I keep hearing it’s oligarchs making people do the bad things.
@Hungry Joe: We are just the fucking worst.
lamh36
Why in holy hell would any woman’s team want to visit Chump at the WH?
@washingtonpost
Follow Follow @washingtonpost
More
“Where are the women’s teams?”: Trump ignores women’s champions in White House sports ceremonies
wait…did he feed these athletes McDonald’s again!!!
smh..
Major Major Major Major
@ruemara: It’s well established that the existence of millionaires and billionaires makes people feel like walking on serpentine soil.
Jay
We have Nature Reserves up here. The only people allowed in are pre-approved Researchers and in some cases, Indiginous people practicing specific land rights.
It’s a $15,000 fine to enter, and is regularly enforced.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
They’re looking for single payer among the posies.
chopper
fucking shitbags.
ruemara
@Major Major Major Major: I’d like to believe some deity will have a serpent bite them.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: those are definitely California poppies.
jacy
Every once in a while a stupid tourist wanders off the path In Yellowstone and is dissolved in the hot springs. I would not object to that happening in various locations when people willfully leave the designated area.
MJS
Those flowers do look nice, but where do these people live that they just have to get that close to fucking flowers?
chris
Needs wall.
plato
@chris: Touche’.
Pete Downunder
We have the same issue at Uluru (Ayers Rock). People keep climbing it despite the traditional owners’request that they not as it is a sacred site.
lamh36
WHOA!!
If this an be replicated…imagine all the lives that could be saved.
But also the lives lost already!
H.I.V. Is Reported Cured in a Second Patient, a Milestone in the Global AIDS Epidemic https://nyti.ms/2EMBHRC
realbtl
Here in Glacier NP is is normal to lose 1 or 2 people walking past the danger slick rocks signs along McDonald Creek. And don’t even get me started on Yellowstone.
A Ghost To Most
In Colorado, we use mountain lions and rattlesnakes to teach people to stay on the path.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@lamh36:
Oh but that means Trump understands what (white) working class people like, you snobby elite! /s
I will never get over that reaction to the criticism of Trump’s BigMac feast.
The man owns a DC hotel that probably has catering. Still want hamburgers and fries? Fine, restaurant quality burgers/fries would still be fine fare for college athletes. Nobody said it had to be lobster tail and caviar.
A Ghost To Most
@realbtl: Ooh, do you live near there? Glacier is one of our absolute favorite places.
raven
I toured the Arizona at Pearl a few years back and we took a US Navy boat out to the Battleship. The crew were all young sailors and the were very clear that there was to be no standing while the craft was under way. Some fucking asshole decided he’d just ignore them and stand up and shoot video. They asked him nicely but he persisted. I held my tongue until we got ashore because I felt the boat ride was part of the memorial but when we go off. . . so did I. I hate an asshole that takes advantage of people.
A Ghost To Most
:
@realbtl: Yellowstone in winter was a blast. Summer, not so much.
NotMax
@realbtl
Don’t eat the yellow stone.
;)
One of the jobs of the park rangers atop Haleakala here is to deal with the rocks which tourists mail back. And that’s no small number.
chopper
not as bad as, but reminds me of, those shitmongers who pushed that old goblin (boulder) over in goblin valley state park in utah.
lamh36
A Ghost To Most
@chopper: Or the d-bags who caused all the damage at Joshua Tree.
A Ghost To Most
@NotMax: Why would they mail them back?
Jay
@A Ghost To Most:
Guilt, and of course, the curse.
NotMax
@A Ghost To Most
Read the linked article for the answer, please and thank you.
Another Scott
https://www.ocregister.com/2019/03/01/wildflower-etiquette-stay-on-the-trails-and-dont-stop-traffic/
Cheers,
Scott.
japa21
OT Ben Carson says he plans to leave HUD post at end of Trump’s first term. Well, duh, did he expect a Democratic President to keep him on?
schrodingers_cat
There are assholes in every country, they are not unique to this country. In India you find names scribbled on 2000 year old Buddhist carvings in a cave. Idiot loves Stupid and heart with a cupid’s arrow.
Ohio Mom
@NotMax: Why don’t they sell the returned rocks in the gift shop?
It might be interesting to see if fewer rocks would be pilfered if a retail option was provided. Of course after they sold the last of the returned rocks they’d be back to square one.
Jager
@lamh36:
He did the fast food thing again for ND State. My wingnut Aunt said, “I’ll bet the boys were thrilled”.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Jay:
There’s a Yellowstone curse if you take rocks from the park? How have I never heard of this yet?
The Midnight Lurker
We don’t need land mines. We just need to post a new sign:
I ORDER YOU TO TRAMPLE THESE FLOWERS! IT IS YOUR CIVIC DUTY TO DESTROY THEM! Signed: President Barack Obama
Jay
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Halekela isn’t in Jellystone Park.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Jager:
I’ll never understand that. If I was going to the WH, Trump or not, I’d feel cheated if I found out I was being served fast food I could buy anytime myself. Not to mention fast food that was likely cold and soggy. Ugh.
NotMax
@Ohio Mom
Native Hawaiians would be, to put it mildly, incensed.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Jay:
Whoops. It’s in Hawaii.
NotMax
@Jay
But it does have an area wherein one can spot those irresistible pic-a-nic baskets. Don’t tell Yogi.
;)
raven
@NotMax: And to protect the Nene.
NotMax
Forgot the link.
@Jay
But it does have an area wherein one can spot those irresistible pic-a-nic baskets. Don’t tell Yogi.
;)
Raven
@NotMax: Early morning on the Mountain of the Sun. That’s a lot of rocks!
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Thanks Baud. I needed a good laugh.
NotMax
@Raven
And the silverswords. Trampling in proximity to one can be enough to damage or kill it.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@NotMax:
Ah, yes, Hanna-Barbera. They’d come up with a unique concept and then copy it a half dozen times to create “new” shows. They got better after the 70s, but Christ on a cracker they sure knew how to run something into the ground.
Raven
Here’s some cones on Maui.
A Ghost To Most
@NotMax: People take rocks from every National Park. I guess it never occurred to me they would send them back. Similar to returning a long overdue book, I guess. We limit our collecting to National and state Forests. And we keep our vehicle on the trail. The same wilful disregard has caused many 4×4 trails to be closed.
Raven
@NotMax: These?
Mnemosyne
@Another Scott:
As far as I can tell, everyone in John’s photo is on a path (look closer) so I suspect that the photo is misleading about exactly what is roped off. Sorry to ruin everyone’s outrage.
Mnemosyne
@A Ghost To Most:
It’s bad luck to take rocks from Hawaii. Presumably the mailed-back ones are from people who found that out the hard way. ?
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Modi can’t like this.
Baud
@Mnemosyne: Damn you!!!
sukabi
@lamh36: He’s probably cracked the code to get a check cut for catering dinners, submits an inflated budget, gets the $$, orders fast food burgers and pockets the difference.
JDM
The dumbest thing about these folks is – speaking as a former Californian who saw, and loved, many seasons of poppy blooms – they aren’t all that impressive a flower close up. The real beauty is the hillsides being covered to whatever extent that particular hillside is covered. Getting closer hurts rather than helps the experience, IMO.
Now, that said, I think @Mnemosyne: is correct. Kinda takes the air out. :)
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Mnemosyne:
Are you saying… ?…. the spirits got them?
A Ghost To Most
@Mnemosyne:
If you are counting on luck, you are doing it wrong.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Baud:
Trump: “That’ll teach them Injuns trying to steal call center jobs from hard working *white* Americans!”
NotMax
@Raven
To pick a nit, the translation is House of the Sun.
Remember noodging you to head up there for sunrise rather than sunset, which was what brought me (for better or ill, YMMV) out of lurkerdom.
As opposed to the House of the Rising Sun, a whole ‘nother animule.
;)
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Unique concepts weren’t exactly the stock in trade. The Flintstones, as even Joe and William would admit, was The Honeymooners in neolithic drag. But their successes led to work (however limited the animation was) for writers, artists and voice actors at a time when those jobs were on the wane.
plato
Just.Do.It.
raven
@NotMax: Thanks, I can’t believe it’s been seven years.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: there’s a ghost town in CA where the rangers started the rumor of a curse to get people to stop stealing things. They’re now mad because people are mailing them stuff back and they have to file a police report for each item. They have a mini-museum just for the returned objects! https://www.kqed.org/news/11640709/how-this-ghost-towns-curse-backfired-on-park-rangers
Mnemosyne
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
More like it’s a bad idea to piss off a volcano goddess. ⚡️?
namekarB
From Woody Guthrie’s “This Land I Your Land, This Land is My Land”
As I was walking down that ribbon of highway
I saw a sign that said No Trespassing
But on the other side It didn’t say nothing
That side was made for you and me
Mnemosyne
@A Ghost To Most:
Other way around: the curse says that taking the rocks causes bad luck, not good luck.
You can take that chance, but I ain’t gonna.
A Ghost To Most
@Mnemosyne: No more dangerous than trying to piss off a sky fairy. I’ve been trying all my life, and none have appeared in a cloud of smoke.
Religion breeds tribalism. So do other foolish superstitions.
chopper
@A Ghost To Most:
why are we so awful as a people?
FlyingToaster
@A Ghost To Most: You don’t have to believe in luck*, to believe in karma. I am quite convinced that what goes around comes around, though not nearly timely enough for justice.
* luck generally comes in three forms: dumb, blind, and bad
chopper
@A Ghost To Most:
the curse. they’re told “don’t take shit or god’s wrath”, they steal shit and go home, some bad shit happens and they realize it, they send it back.
yeah it’s make believe but at least they feel bad about it and at least they’re returning stuff. better’n the alternate.
chopper
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
is this like that curse from when the brady bunch went to hawaii?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@NotMax:
Huh. Didn’t know that, but it makes sense that the Flintstones were based on the Honeymooners.
I also didn’t know animation was declining around this time. Disney was still a thing.
JR
@namekarB: just a correction: the “ribbon of highway” is the second verse (endless skyway). The “sign” verse goes:
There was a high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted, said “private property”
.. etc
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Mnemosyne:
But that’s just silly superstition! I took a rock from there just last month and nothing happened to me! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to press the call button to summon the nurse for feeding time. I fell down some stairs and now eat through an NG tube.
/Not really lol. Jk
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I don’t like it either. Why is Orange Glow doing this? What is he hoping to achieve?
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Concurrent with the crumbling of the old Hollywood studio system came the closure or severe truncation of their animation departments. Also note how much of Disney’s production effort was put into live action features during the 50s and 60s.
BellyCat
@A Ghost To Most:
Quoted for truth.
ThresherK
@NotMax: Speaking of H-B doing the same thing too often, do you remember The Roman Holidays?
Another Scott
@Mnemosyne: I sorta thought the same thing; that’s why I looked for the original picture. The OCR picture isn’t exactly the same, but it seems to be from the same area. And in that case, it seems clear that the woman on the left in the picture isn’t obeying the sign.
Pictures are easy to misinterpret (especially pictures with snarky captions). But it does seem that people going off the trail are a big problem there (and it’s an obvious problem in national and state parks).
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@ThresherK
Oy vey. Came and went real fast. Family had an apartment in the Venus de Milo Arms, IIRC.
Amir Khalid
@namekarB:
Woody wasn’t singing about nature preserves.
Chetan Murthy
As long as we’re airing grievances, I have a few:
(1) people who, upon debarking from the bus at a corner, don’t wait for the driver to resume his route, before crossing. You’d think this would be *basic* courtesy to this person who just drove you (part of the way) to your destination, but NoOoO
(2) people who crowd the entrance to a bus or train (to board), making it impossible for those debarking to do so in a timely manner. I know that in Japan commuters line up in orderly ranks to board, and in SF there are even helpful indicators on the platform surface indicating where to line up. But NoOoO
(3) people who insist on sharing their music (whatsoever is the music) with everybody on the bus or train. There are rules about this, and these people seem to feel that it’s their God-given right to flout ’em. If it keeps up, I’m gonna have to make me a bluetooth jammer, ffs.
Arrrgh. Yes, this is why we don’t have nice things. And I know that in both the northern European countries, *and* in Japan, people aren’t like this. Ugh. These people: were they raised in barns?
brettvk
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I intensely disliked the Hanna-Barbera cartoons when I was a kid, because the animation was so crude and lazy. It wasn’t visually interesting enough to distract from the imbecilic scripting, although I’m sure it was cost-effective. Warner Brothers taught me to expect better.
dc
These people, the first against the wall (I mean that figuratively, of course).
Mnemosyne
@Another Scott:
All of the people on the left side of the frame appear to be on trails — keep in mind that dirt trails through the brush can be a little hard to discern because they wind a LOT. Upper left woman in the red skirt is clearly on a trail, which means that the woman slightly below her is on the same trail. The two women in black closer to the camera are definitely on a trail.
It’s the people in the middle of the photo that I’m suspicious of. ?
Also, it seemed to me that the photo was implying that all of the people had jumped over the red rope to go onto a closed trail, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think the red rope is there to prevent people from taking a shortcut to the trailhead.
moops
As already noted, these people are on a path, and also noted, the wildflower bloom is best appreciated from at least a mile away. Not to worry, the California Poppy is extremely far from being endangered.
JoeyJoeJoe
@Hungry Joe: I was just talking to someone who had recently visited Iceland. He said that some people were actually driving on the moss.
NotMax
@JoeyJoeJoe
It’s okay so long as you are blasting Mick Jagger tunes out the windows.
:)
Marguerite Hill
@Hungry Joe:
Many moons ago my daughter & I visited the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The park ranger giving the tour instructed everyone to avoid touching this national treasure. One boy, perhaps 9 or 10, touched it quite deliberately. The people with him, his parents I assumed, said nothing. The ranger asked them to leave, which they did. I thought perhaps the child must have a behavioral disorder.
sgrAstar
@Hungry Joe: we have something similar (?) in the Mojave- cryptogamic soil crusts. Delicate. Old. Stomped upon by the same clueless morans we see in the photo above. UGH. Hard to understand how people can ignore not only signage, but direct instruction. .
Adam Geffen
@Another Scott:
I’m glad you found that link because when I first looked at the photo I saw the paths through the flowers and the sign clearly indicates stay on the paths so I was confused about the meme: everyone in the photo is literally following the rules.